Leaks shows Qatar secretly sent $15 million to Islamist movements in northern Mali

Leaked government letter is 'the first document to directly implicate the Emir of Qatar in the financing of terrorism'

Qatar’s regime funneled $15 million dollars to the Islamist movements in northern Mali and to an entity in the Sahel, according to a reportedly leaked Qatari document.

The Washington D.C.-based Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) translated and published the alleged Qatari government letter with the subject “Secret and Urgent" on November 29.

According to a letter sent from Youssef Hussein Kamal, Qatar’s then-minister of economy and finance, to the director of the office of the Emir of Qatar, it stated “I wish to refer to your Excellency’s letter (da-49-2011) of April 4, 2011, which includes the esteemed directions from His Highness, the Emir of the country, regarding sending urgent monetary support to the Islamic opposition movements in northern Mali and to the organization of the Sahel and to the Sahara in the amount of US $15 million.”

The letter adds, “This sum must be distributed with the knowledge of the state security service, represented by Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Nue'eimi, under the section of humanitarian support.”

The letter further reads “I wish to inform Your Excellency that in the implementation of the esteemed directives, the sum of the support in cash, in the amount of US $15 million, was delivered to the state security service represented by Mr. Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Nue'eimi.”

Souleymane AG Anara / AFP Fighters for The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), one of Mali’s main armed groups, held a congress at the end of August 2022 in Kidal, to commit to the merger of all armed ex-rebel groups belonging to the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), who signed the peace agreement in 2015. SOULEYMANE AG ANARA / AFP

Marc Eichinger, a former French intelligence agent who has written extensively about Qatar's financing of terrorism, told i24NEWS: "This document is more important than the others in that for the first time we have proof the Emir is directly involved in the financing of terrorism. He personally gave the orders to pay money to people over whom he has no control. This funding destabilized the whole of West Africa to satisfy and provoke an unprecedented wave of migration."

Ghanem Nuseibeh, a leading expert on Qatar's regime and the founder of the London-based Cornerstone Global Associates, told i24NEWS “the allegations aren’t surprising as they fit in with Qatar’s financing and support of Islamist terrorist groups around the world. This fits with Qatar’s foreign policy which for the past two decades has focused on aligning itself with local Islamists in many regions of the world.”

Numerous i24NEWS press queries to Qatar’s embassies in London and in Washington were not immediately returned

In 2012, a number of French-language news outlets reported that Qatar financed Islamists in northern Mali.

French weekly Le Canard Enchainé wrote an article titled “Our friend Qatar is financing Mali’s Islamists.”

A source from French military intelligence told Canard Enchainé, “The MNLA [secular Tuareg separatists], al Qaeda-linked Ansar Dine and MUJAO [Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa] have all received cash from Doha.”

In January 2013, France 24 wrote that “two French politicians explicitly accused Qatar of giving material support to separatists and Islamists in north Mali, adding fuel to speculation that the Emirate is playing a behind-the-scenes role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism in Africa.”

Lionel Bonaventure / AFP Malian soldiers patrol the streets of Gao in June 2013. Gao was under the control of Tuareg rebels who declared the independence of the entire desert north before losing control to armed Islamists. French warplanes bombed parts of Gao in January to drive out fighters from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), and the city was recaptured by the Malian government.

According to France 24, the politicians said it added “fuel to speculation that the Emirate is playing a behind-the-scenes role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism in Africa.”

The two politicians who raised Qatar’s alleged funding of radical Islamists in northern Mali were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Communist party Senator Michelle Demessine.

According to France 24, Sadou Diallo, the mayor of the north Malian city of Gao [which had fallen to the Islamists] told RTL radio: “The French government knows perfectly well who is supporting these terrorists. Qatar, for example, continues to send so-called aid and food every day to the airports of Gao and Timbuktu.”

Former Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani (HBJ) called for dialogue with the Islamists in Mali at the time.

HBJ has long faced accusations of misconduct, ranging from bribing journalists to stoking antisemitism. In a 2017 Congressional hearing, the Qatari regime was accused of financing a wide range of Islamist terrorist organizations. Doha has also faced allegations that the tiny oil-rich Gulf nation seeks to use its enormous wealth to influence human rights organizations, the UN, and think tanks to issue glowing reports about Qatar. In November, i24NEWS reported that an alleged Qatari document revealed that Doha sent 3 million euros to Human Rights Watch. HRW denied that it received money from Qatar.

There is growing criticism in the United States, Germany, and Israel of Qatar’s alleged role as a state-sponsor of terrorism. On Thursday, US congressman Jack Bergman (R-Michigan) said on the House floor, "Qatar poses the gravest and most profound threat to the national security interests of the United States in the Middle East." Bergman also slammed the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera network for enabling Hamas’ terrorism ideology.

Germany’s largest paper, Bild, headlined its October article regarding the visit of Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar: “Scholz welcomes the top sponsor of terror.” Olaf Scholz is the German Chancellor. The Bild headline would have been largely unimaginable before October 7. MEMRI’s president and founder, Yigal Carmon, said “Qatar is Hamas and Hamas is Qatar.”